Jessa has always felt broken inside, but she’s gotten very good at hiding it. No one at school knows about the panic attacks, the therapy that didn't help, the meds that haven’t worked. But when a severe accident leaves her with a brain injury and visible scars, Jessa’s efforts to convince the world that she’s okay finally crumble—now she looks as shattered as she feels.

Fleeing from her old life in Los Angeles, Jessa moves to Colorado to live with her dad, where she meets Marshall, a boy whose kindness and generous heart slowly draw Jessa out of her walled-off shell and into the broken, beautiful, real world—a place where souls get hurt just as badly as bodies, and we all need each other to heal.

ALL THINGS NEW is a love story about perception and truth, physical and emotional pain, and the messy, complicated people we are behind the masks we put on for the world, perfect for fans of ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES and THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.

Uhm… how do I start this…

SPOILER FREE REVIEW

The beginning was really powerful and engaging. I loved how the events unfolded and the struggles Jessa had to face due to the accident and before it, everything felt real and relatable as I myself have been struggling with some anxiety and depression. It sends important messages to the reader and I really did appreciate the comparison with The Picture of Dorian Gray I found this bit really great and exemplary here let me show you

In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde suggests that man’s attempt to separate his soul from his body will eventually lead to the loss of both.Dorian Gray thought that hiding his true self from the world would set him free, but it actually did the opposite. It made him a prisoner to a lie; a lie that drove him deeper and deeper into darkness and ultimately destroyed him.

More than anything, it seems to me now he was an insecure person, unsure of his own value beyond his appearance.

i know what that’s like

And it strikes me now, that I probably would’ve made Dorian’s trade, if I believed it were possible to put my true self on a painting I could hide from the world. But I didn’t have a magical canvas, so I tried burying the truth inside me instead, building little mental boxes to hold the things I didn’t want anyone to see. The all-consuming panic. The swirling thoughts. The sinking shame. The fear that I’m not good enough, have never been good enough, that if anyone really knew me, they’d leave.

True words, that dive deep into you and you realize that everytime you said ”I’m ok” as an answer to that person that has asked you if you are ok, but you actually weren’t makes us liars as we bury those truths underneath the surface and put on a mask and pretend that everything is OK and we are as well. That everyone is struggling with something and everyone is pretending otherwise.

I really did like these messages and the truthfulness in them.

After the accident she has she moved to live with her father in Colorado, were she befriends Hannah and Marshal; twins. My favourite character is definitely Marshal and I wanted to see more of him, he is funny, optimistic and gives you that fresh air you need after all the heaviness in this book, regardless of his own condition he always looks at the bright side.

One of the things that did not work out for me in this book was that the characters had something to cope with. I mean, why?? It just made the whole book wayy too HEAVY and how can I say I wanted some light into it more MARSHAL!!

Another thing I did not like was the direction the book took and all that after-head-concussion-thing… it would have been better to just keep it as aphantasia as a MEDICAL CONDITION and not turn it into something that just..

SPOILER

Basically after her accident, Jessa sees bruises, scars, burns ect on other people’s faces and the doctors call it aphantasia and her mind’s eye does not work she cannot picture nor see images with her mind. And towards the end of the book it turns out that she is seeing the hurting soul of the others, and that everything is more on a spiritual level and I was like… maaaan WHYY ruining this book… so yeah this was the major issue I had with this book…

END OF SPOILER

ruined the whole experience for me…

Overall I did like it, and I would totally invite you to pick it up and check it out. My rating is 3 stars.

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